


the hubbub and the hum

by CassandrasDreamworld



Series: Into the Jaskierverse [9]
Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Dimension Travel, Good Parent Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Kidnapping, Light Angst, Multiverse, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Protective Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia, Temporary Character Death, plot relevant cliff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:06:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26594944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CassandrasDreamworld/pseuds/CassandrasDreamworld
Summary: He disarms them and turns around, sword up against the other person's throat. His second sword held behind him at the first person.Only then he realizes who he holds at sword point. “Véa?” A quick glance behind him confirms that the other person is Téa, or this universes versions of them at least.“You are not the White Wolf but you move like him,” Véa speaks calmly, she does not seem daunted by the sword at her neck and neither does Téa.Geralt grunts, “Iamthe White Wolf, just notyours.”
Relationships: Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon & Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia
Series: Into the Jaskierverse [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1895545
Comments: 32
Kudos: 174





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The force shoves him back and his foot catches on the edge of the cliff. He tries to fall forwards but to no avail, the impact has pushed him over the ledge.
> 
> Ciri screams for Geralt and runs to him before he can warn her. Headless of any danger she rushes directly into the dimeritium cloud, triggering another trap.
> 
> The last thing he sees is Ciri coughing out a lung while a net heaves her in the air. With that many bells start to ring loudly .
> 
> Then he is falling, an impact and- 
> 
> Black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello hello! This is part part for Into the Jaskierverse!
> 
> Geralt and Ciri visit the universe of my current fic series [i am forgotten (i am remade)](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1613920)
> 
> It takes place some bit into the future of that particular verse though you'll probably only catch that if you read my series, though this can be read mostly as a stand alone i think
> 
> i hope you like it!

A portal opens. It flickers, seizes and spits two very confused people into a clearing.

“ _Fuck._ ” Geralt says, laying face down on the ground. He grunts and props himself up, looking around he sees Ciri laying some ways away on her back. She groans and slowly sits up. “Fuck,” she agrees. 

Geralt pushes himself to his feet unsteadily and brushes a bit of the dirt off of his clothes. He wanders over to her and offers her a hand that she gratefully takes. His medallion is humming spastically but he ignores it for now. With a sigh he crosses his arms and turns, looking at where the portal spit them out. “So, what the fuck just happened there?”

Ciri groans again, “I don’t know!” She starts to pick blades of grass from her pants and huffs. “I had an anchor, it _should_ have brought us to Jas, or at least this universe’s version of him.” 

“What went wrong? Anything to do with why your medallion is going wild?” 

She critically eyes Geralt’s medallion, which is still humming insistently, filling the clearing with it’s low sound. “I think so, let me concentrate for a moment.” 

Ciri closes her eyes and thinks back to the feeling of magic when she had created the portal, going through it and getting out on the other side.

Now that she is actively focusing on it, there was a spike in magic, one that seems to have disturbed her portal. However, she can’t explain what kind of magic this could be. She relays this to Geralt, who hums and looks thoughtful.

He glances around the clearing but can’t seem to make out anything that could help them find out where they landed. Geralt sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose, “Let’s see if Yen can say where we are.”

Ciri nods and takes out her Xenovox, opens it and- 

Nothing. 

She shakes it and tries again, still nothing. Fiddling with it, she tries a few more things to get it to work but no it seems completely dead. Frustrated she kicks up a bit of grass.

“Fuck.” Geralt sighs, this day just keeps getting better. “Okay, let me try with mine and see if that works.” He takes out _his_ Xenovox now and tries to contact Yennefer.

The Xenovox in his hand seems equally as dead as Ciri’s. He studies it with a critical eye and thinks. Ciri falls quiet as well, and seems to take on Geralt’s calm demeanor.

After a while Geralt looks up from the Xenovox and at where the portal has been, Ciri follows his line of sight and furrows her brows. “You think…?” She starts, unsure.

Geralt nods slowly and touches his still vibrating medallion, “That the magic here could also interfere with the Xenovoxes? Yes.”

She nods and crosses her arms, “It would make sense at least, although I wonder what kind of magic this is, to be able to do this.”

Raising a questioning eyebrow, Geralt turns to her. “You can’t tell?”

Ciri shakes her head and scowls, rounding the clearing once and stopping in the middle. 

“It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before, it doesn’t feel like the magic of a mage or a monster.” She huffs, “I can’t discern it _at all_.” 

Geralt hums in reply and puts his Xenovox away, “We should get out of this clearing at least.” He steps closer to Ciri and gives her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. She puts a hand over Geralt’s and squeezes back.

“Hopefully the magic doesn’t stretch too far, let’s see if they work some ways away from here.” Ciri says, looking at her Xenovox before putting it away.

She stretches, “Any idea in which direction we should go?”

Geralt looks up and judges the position of the sky and thinks. “West.” He grunts out finally, and starts to immediately head into said direction.

Ciri laughs and follows him, “Any particular reason or just your gut instincts, old man?” He hums in reply, making her grin, “Gut instinct then.”

He rolls his eyes and bumps their shoulders together, his eyes crinkling at the edges. Ciri smiles back at him and skips ahead.

They both walk at a steady pace, talking about this and that, or humming and grunting in Geralt’s case. Ciri alternates between musing about the magic, which leads her on tangents about the different types of magic and what kind of dates she’d like to take Cerys on. They pause for a few minutes, to test the Xenovox, when they notice that the medallion has stopped vibrating. They both stayed dead though, and Ciri theorizes that this could be after effects of the magic, they should wait a little longer before they give up on them.

After a while they manage to exit the forest and step onto flat ground, both squint around for any remarkable landmarks but still nothing. Although- Geralt looks around more closely and hums, “Could be Kovir or Poviss.”

“Oh! Which means if we continue walking west–” 

“The coast, yes.”

Cheerfully Ciri continued walking again, “Come on then, the coast sounds nice doesn’t it?” She throws her head over her shoulder to grin widely at Geralt.

He hums and starts walking, catching up with her and carefully not thinking about what the coast means to him. _Fuck_ does he miss him.

They continue onwards, the area around them slowly changing. The trees grow sparser and the ground getting more and more rocky till a deep and wide cliff stops them in their tracks . The cleft is far too wide to be able to cross it, and too deep to risk climbing down and up again.

“Reckon that there might be a bridge somewhere?” Ciri muses, looking into the abyss. “I don't want to risk teleporting both of us so shortly after that portal disaster and the weird magic.”

Geralt nods in understanding and says, “Only way to find out.” He looks in both directions, to the north he can see mountains and to the south the beginning of another forested area. They lock eyes and nod, “South.”

They keep close to the cliff and look out for a narrower area they could get over or a bridge. Closing in on the forest area, Geralt’s starts to get uneasy, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up, that he dismisses out of hand though. All this universe travelling has put him on edge, if he admits it to himself, and now something strange has happened to the portal as well.

He shakes his head and concentrates on the way forward. This would be easier and faster if they had horses, but no matter. Push comes to shove they’ll camp in the woods until Ciri is ready again to use her portals.

Ciri flits between the trees without any care, and he doesn’t fault her. Walking this long gets boring after a while, especially since Geralt isn’t the best conversationalist, even with his improvements. Ciri isn’t one for mindlessly talking miles a minute, still young and mostly looking for ways to entertain herself and burn off energy.

Lost in thoughts as he is, Geralt makes the fatal mistake of not keeping track of his surroundings. His foot catches on on a wire, he realizes this seconds later and has time enough to curse before a heavy bag knocks into him full force. It explodes into a shower of… sparkles?

With panic he realizes what it is but by then it’s too late. He has already inhaled some of the dimeritium.

The force shoves him back and his foot catches on the edge of the cliff. He tries to fall forwards but to no avail, the impact has pushed him over the ledge.

Ciri screams for Geralt and runs to him before he can warn her. Headless of any danger she rushes directly into the dimeritium cloud, triggering _another_ trap.

The last thing he sees is Ciri coughing out a lung while a net heaves her in the air. With that many bells start to ring _loudly_.

Then he is falling, an impact and- 

Black.

  
  
  
  
  


Geralt’s coming to is slow and painful, but at least he _is_ coming to. Falling from great heights has been many a witcher's death, in this case he is incredibly lucky. He seems to be on some kind of ledge, that has just barely broken his fall. Grunting he heaves himself up, even though his whole body _aches_ like a giant bruise. He’ll be better in a bit, but for now he has to deal with it and with-

Oh fuck. _Ciri_.

He feels bile rise in the pack of his throat as the panic sets in, he remembers- the scream, the trap, the _net_ . “Shit. Fucking _cock_.”

The panic threatens to overwhelm him but he _knows_ that this won’t help him at all. With massive effort he shoves it down. He won’t be able to help her if he lets himself be consumed by panic. Plan, he needs a plan.

Looking up the cliff he can tell that even if it's going to be difficult he _can_ scale it. The surface seems solid enough, the rough face of it should hold his weight well even though it will pose a challenge.

He stretches his body and tests out his muscles. They hurt like a bitch but he can’t expect anything else after a fall like this, he should be glad that he hasn’t broken anything. Geralt grits his teeth together, he _needs_ to get up there as soon as possible but in his current condition that’s not possible. If his muscles decided to lock up or cramp, he’d just fall down again and hurt himself _more_.

He closes his eyes and breathes in deeply, muttering a tired, “ _Fuck_.” 

Of course a situation like this would happen to him, he seems to attract shitty situations left and right. He sighs again, but before he drops into meditation to speed along his healing he fishes for the Xenovox to make sure it wasn’t damaged in the fall. 

Thankfully it seems unbroken, and Geralt lets out a relieved breath. It’s still not working, although he doesn’t know if it’s from the strange magic or having been surrounded by dimiterium. It could be the latter if the dimiterium is still on the ground above them, the ledge he landed on is far from the cliff’s edge but not _that_ far.

No matter, it doesn’t help him now. He stores the Xenovox away and goes to his knees, sitting down, hands on thighs. An hour of meditation should heal him enough to scale the cliff.

After his meditation his muscles have stopped screaming at him, so he chalks this up as a success. 

He removes his gloves to have a better grip on the rock and makes sure that nothing on his body can get into the way of climbing.

Geralt looks the cliff up and down, already searching out a rough path he can take so it will be easiest for him- as easy as scaling a cliff can be anyhow. Path mapped out he takes a deep breath and starts his slow climb upwards.

Although he probably would have the physical strength to move the cliff up rapidly, he stays on the careful side, not wanting to risk another fall. The rock is cold and the rough surfaces uncomfortable on his hands and fingers, sharp edges making him hiss out a curse. As he does some of the wall crumbles away under his foot, leaving him scrambling for purchase.

Finally, he reaches the edge of the cliff. With one last push he heaves himself onto solid ground again.

Geralt sighs in relief and slowly stands up, dusting off his clothes, looking around.

Dread floods into his stomach when he sees that the net seems to have been cut down, Ciri nowhere in sight. He curses again.

He pauses and concentrates on his surroundings. There doesn’t seem to be anyone here. He had to be out for at least two hours, plus the one hour spent meditating if he goes by the position of the sun.

Carefully he walks over to the trees where the trap got him and inspects it. It was a basic tripwire, although the trap itself was unusual. Who the fuck uses dimiterium in their traps, unless they _want_ to capture a magic user or creature. The thought sends a shiver down his spine and he shoves it aside, looking for more clues.

He's glad the dimiterium dust seems to have settled, he can see the shavings glinting in the grass. While he investigates the area, he dismantles four more traps, noting that two have dimiterium components as well, while the others are laid out to capture whatever triggers them.

The trap setters seem to have wanted to really make sure they would get whatever walked into them. 

Geralt's hearts constrict as he steps closer to the net that captured Ciri. No doubt that the dimiterium she inhaled would have weakened her considerably if not straight up knocked her out. She would have been _helpless._

He takes a deep breath to calm himself down, he _will_ find her.

Whoever the people were, and according to the many footprints there were more than one or two, they might have been good at trap setting but not cleaning up their tracks.

They also seem to not be as organized as the traps would suggest, the footprints are many and scattered as if they didn’t know what they wanted to do. The rope had been cut haphazardly, and the evidence just left lying on the ground.

There is nothing else on the ground that could suggest who they were. But that won’t save them, he has their scent now and honestly, what kind of idiots leave this many footprints all over the place anyway.

Geralt starts to follow their trail. He will get Ciri back at all costs, and if he has to cut down all of them to get to her. 

They have picked a fight with the wrong father.

  
  
  
  
  


He follows the trail carefully, and sword ready at hand, stopping every few minutes to listen for any irregularities. There are none but he doesn't get complacent, that’s what brought them into the situation in the first place.

After a certain point the forest density lightens, and it seems that the group has shifted to horseback. That makes tracking them easier but it means that this will develop into a longer endeavour as well, on account of Geralt currently _not_ having a horse.

It doesn’t matter. He will catch up to them one way or another.

The farther he goes, the lighter the forest gets and the worse his bad feeling becomes. It makes him more alert and even more careful. It's probably the only thing that saves him from getting impaled by a crossbow bolt. 

A figure drops from the tree while another whirls out from behind one, sword raised.

Geralt parries it with his own, the clash of steal loud in the forest. He disarms them and turns around, sword up against the other person's throat. His second sword held behind him at the first person.

Only then he realizes who he holds at sword point. “Véa?” A quick glance behind him confirms that the other person is Téa, or this universes versions of them at least.

“You are not the White Wolf but you move like him,” Véa speaks calmly, she does not seem daunted by the sword at her neck and neither does Téa.

Geralt grunts, “I _am_ the White Wolf, just not _yours_.”

The two women look at each other over the swords and hold eye contact for a few seconds before Téa asks, or rather _demands_ , “Prove it to us then.”

He tries not to roll his eyes, they’re right in being suspicious- he would be too- but, “How the hell should I prove that I’m myself, want me to sniff something out or kill a monster with my bare hands?”

“That is of no concern to _us_.” Véa cuts in, “Find a way to prove it.”

A low growl leaves Geralt’s throat, it’s been a long time since he has gotten angry as fast as this but the both of them are wasting his time, time he needs to find Ciri. 

“If you believe me doesnot fucking matter to me, I’m searching for _my_ Ciri and both of you are slowing me down.” He forces out between gritted teeth. “I _will_ knock the both of you out if I have to-”

“ _Geralt_?”

That’s unmistakingly Yennefer’s voice cutting him off, which means that the Xeonovox is finally working again.

He releases a breath he didn’t notice he was holding. “Yen.” 

“ _Finally! Do you know how long I tried to reach one of you?_ ” She sounds experated but Geralt can read the note of worry in her tone.

Téa and Véa share a glance again and seem to come to an agreement as they both step back, hands raised. Geralt huffs and eyes them for a moment before lowering his swords. He does not put them away.

He buries Téa’s sword into the ground and with his free hand, fishes for the Xenovox. “I can guess. Yen I need your help, can you locate Ciri?”

There is a pause, and the Xenovox crackles, “ _She isn’t with you?_ ”  
  


Geralt growls again, deeper and angry. “We got seperated, there was a trap, can you find her or not.”

Another, longer pause. “ _I can’t. Something is blocking her and the Xenovox._ ”

“Shit.” Geralt breathes out, “Alright I have a trail, I will contact you when I need help.”

“ _Stay safe, you’re no use to Ciri dead._ ” With that Yennefer cuts the connection.

Geralt puts the Xenovox away and looks at Téa and Véa, who have moved closer together, watching consideringly. He narrows his eyes and bares his teeth, “Listen, I already told you two what I’ll do. Will you let me through voluntarily or _not_.”

At this Téa steps forward, still seemingly unconcerned about Geralt’s angry demeanor. “We will not lie, we do not believe you completely, White Wolf. However, your emotions were genuine, and we have both tracked and investigated the group that is on the move. The group who has your Ciri as well.”

She continues, “Which is why I will go with you, and Véa will take word to Villentretenmerth and consult him.”

Geralt nods, knowing full well having the help of a dragon of all people would be invaluable. Téa as well is nothing to sneeze at, a great warrior in her own right.

He is still on high alert, and probably will be until this is over, but he sheaths his sword for now and Téa does the same. Both women subtly nod at each other and Véa starts to walk west.

Without waiting and wasting any more time Geralt starts to follow the trail again. He does not look back but senses that Téa follows not quite behind him. He grudgingly admits that that’s sensible of her, someone following right behind him would probably set him on edge even further.

They move fast and on silent feet, Geralt pleased to notice that Téa can both keep up and remain nearly as silent as himself. 

Their tracking through the forest continues till Geralt hears something. He holds up his hand, signalling Téa to stop. 

“I think we found them, I can hear people in the distance, they’re not far.” Geralt relays to her quietly. She nods and signals that they should continue onwards. He inlinces his head.

Rather than following the trail, Geralt now goes after his hearing, keeping to the shadow of the trees and low to the ground. After a while Geralt sees some palisades fences through the trees, and a half-hidden watchtower.

Geralt motions Téa to stop, then pauses to listen. There are people coming into their direction. He moves deeper into the bushes and shadows, the patrol passing them by without notice. 

When the patrol is far enough away, Geralt speaks to Téa, “I think we should observe the camp for a while, I want to learn the layout and patrol routes, agreed?” She nods, “Agreed.”

They make some plans, Téa will keep track of the patrols, while Geralt sees if he can get a rudimentary layout of the encampment. He also hopes that he will be able to listen in on the people there, maybe he’ll get something out of their conversations.

Agreeing to meet at the same place several hours from now on they split up. Geralt begins circling the encampment, avoiding the patrols, and climbing on trees for a better vantage point.

The camp is set up simply, obviously done by amateurs. There seems to be no structure to it, no real observation of the area, the people in the camp only doing their own things and talking. 

Patrols going in and out seem lackluster, and have _too_ much of a routine to them. He guesses that there might be twenty-five to thirty people in total, although he has not seen people enter or leave the three big tents stationed on a raised piece of land, towering over the camp. Who does that, anyway? The small tents seem to house the common people, who all also make up the patrols.

Listening in on conversations does not shine any light on the situation either. They talk about personal nonsense and only occasionally mention Ciri, and then only to say _that_ they captured a girl but nothing more. The only new piece of information is that they all seem to be heavily anti-magic.

Going back to the rendezvous point and reviewing it with Téa makes it clear that she doesn’t have much either- except for their apparent incompetence. The patrols seem to always take the same route, and this route leaves _many_ a blind spot. 

Although there is strength in numbers, and even a Witcher can get overwhelmed by many opponents, there has to be just one person that gets lucky and it would be over. They agree to wait on backup, or at least on Véa before they try to plan on how to get in.

They settle against the shadow of a tree, near the camp but not on the patrol route. Geralt thinks about meditating to pass the time but decides against it, not with so many enemies around and someone he doesn’t know. He does settle in more comfortably and closes his eyes. He keeps the rest of his senses solely focused on the area around them. They were in for a long wait.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rider is close now, just a few paces away when he halts the horse and jumps down, hood flying off to reveal-
> 
> “ _Jaskier?!_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyyy next chapter is up! 
> 
> it's not beta read as of now because I am super late as it is but I will likely update the chapter when my beta gets back to me o7
> 
> hope you'll like it!

Evening rolls in and there is no sight of backup in sight as of yet and Geralt is getting uneasy. He hates having to leave Ciri with these people for so long and not do anything about it but he knows that this is the rational option.

He is just thinking that he might try for meditation after all before a scream rings out from the camp.

_Ciri’s_ scream.

Geralt curses and nearly takes off only to be stopped by Téa, “We’ve agreed to wait on backup Wolf.”

He snarls at that, “Fuck backup, this was before this, that’s my _daughter_ screaming in there!”

He tears away from Téa and goes off into the direction of the camp, he can hear Ciri struggling and screaming, probably trying to get out but not managing and he grits his teeth. They will get what is coming to them one way or another.

They’re both near the entrance of the camp but there are not enough possibilities to remain hidden while simultaneously getting _into_ the camp. He’ll have to round it and enter on nearly the opposite site, with a big tree and a tent that seems like he can use it to hide behind.

Slowly he rounds the encampment, avoids the patrols and slips in. It’s so easy it would be downright laughable some other time. No one notices when he heaves himself up the palisades and lands softly in the bushes behind a big tent.

From his position there is a big and red tent right after the one he is hiding behind. It seems to be the tent of the leader if one goes after the state of it and it is the tent they are holding Ciri, going after the noises. He takes a few deep breaths, he can’t afford to get sloppy _now_.

There don’t seem to be any people around all three of the bigger tents, the outlooks on the watchtower some paces behind don’t ever seem to look inside the camp either. Amateurs. He carefully makes his way over to the red tent, the closer he gets the stronger he smells herbs and medicine, mixed and boiling. The smell is cloying but he can’t afford to be distracted, he can’t hear Ciri anymore.

He spies inside and the inside the smell is so strong that it clogs his nose and makes his eyes water. The first thing he sees is a table in the middle of the room. Ciri strapped on it with metal shackles and cursing up a storm. The next one, a person who seems to be a young but heavily scarred man. He's fiddling with an alchemical brew, that he can’t discern neither by looks nor smell.

It’s easy sneaking unnoticed behind him and killing him.

It’s not easy killing the other person in the room before they sound the alarm. “ _Shit._ ”

The smell that’s clogging his note made him completely miss the second man in the tent. Ciri lays unresponsive on table and curses. The alarm is loud and messing with his hearing but he has to hurry if he doesn’t want to fight off a whole camp alone. He searches the first body for keys, he knows he saw something glinting on it but he doesn’t know if those were indeed keys. Successfully he retrieves a key chain, luckily it only holds a few and not a dozen. Quickly he moves towards Ciri, trying all of them out before finally finding the right one and freeing her. 

He hears the sound of a dozen or more of people approaching and that _fast_. 

There isn’t any other exit than the front and the fabric of the tent is too thick to just cut through, Igni would just set everything alight them included. Cursing silently he takes Ciri and puts her over his shoulder, sword in his other hand and heads for the exit.

When he gets out he has to duck away from an arrow heading his way, nearly grazing him. Around two dozen people are advancing from both sides of the camp, there is no other way than forward right over the ledge separating the bigger tents from the rest of the tents. He can only hope he won’t break his legs jumping down.

He sprints towards the edge only to be stopped by a man coming up a ladder and advancing on him. Normally not a problem for Geralt but made difficult by Ciri over his shoulder, he couldn’t live with himself if he accidentally hurt her.

Everything feels like it is in slow motion but he knows that everything happening currently, happens in split seconds

The man advances, he parries the blow. Weak sword grip- easy to knock the sword out of the man’s hand. He turns, accounting for Ciri’s weight, and slashes his throat.

He curses when he has to parry another blow, the first group having caught up to him already. The other group is nearly there as well and he can’t afford for them to catch up as well.

In a risky move he sheathes his sword and lets loose a strong Aard towards the men closest to him, he puts in every ounce of strength he can muster and manages to toss them back and on their asses.

He turns and gets ready to bolt down the cliff- then he hears the unmistakable sound of a flying arrow.

Frantically he looks up just to see a flaming arrow heading into their direction.

No- heading into the second group’s direction.

He curses again when he sees that the arrow won’t hit any of them, the men close but not close enough to where he calculates the arrow will land. Not one to waste any distractions though he sprints forward- and gets nearly knocked off his feet by a loud bang and a shockwave, several people scream out in pain.

An exploding arrow?

He shakes his head, he needs to focus.

Carefully he moves Ciri into a bridal carry and then _jumps_ , letting the momentum carry him forward just that much more. He tries to absorb the shock of the landing in going to his knees, but the impact still makes him grunt in pain.

Another arrow lands behind him, exploding as well but this time he doesn’t turn around. He shifts Ciri to his shoulder again and takes off running. 

Looking forward he sees a horse and rider coming directly at him and he mentally already prepares for a fight before he sees the bow and arrow in his hands. Bow drawn tight and firing an arrow at the people behind him. This has to be his mysterious savior then.

The figure wears a hooded cloak, so he can’t tell who it is and if he knows them, or at least his world’s counterpart to them.

Behind him he hears the sound of men running after him still, so the arrows weren’t enough to knock them back and neither has been his Aard.

The rider is close now, just a few paces away when he halts the horse and jumps down, hood flying off to reveal-

“ _Jaskier?!_ ”

Jas- the man flinches hard and looks at him with sad eyes before shaking his head. “I’m Hyacinth- Come.” He leads the horse to him and only after a moment Geralt realizes that he wants for him and Ciri to get on the horse.

He shakes his head, “What about you? You can’t stay here.” 

Not-Jaskier smiles sardonically and says, “Seems like every Geralt is such a worrywart.” Then he urges him forwards, tone serious, “We don’t have time to argue about this, I will be fine.”

Geralt is suspicious but he also knows that Hyacinth is right, the men getting closer by the second. With a great heave and Hyacinth’s help he gets Ciri into the saddle and climbs up behind her. He has only just settled and grabbed the reins when Hyacinth gives the horse a slap and clicks his tongue. The horse immediately falls into a gallop and Geralt has to look out not to fall, especially with Ciri in front of him.

With everything having been sorted out he hears another set of hoof beats approaching, looking to the side from where it’s coming from he sees Téa riding up to him, Véa not far behind. 

He looks back to see if Jas- Hyacinth is alright and- he only turns in time so see him getting hit with several arrows point blank and collapse.

Geralt’s eyes widen and he lets out a _scream_ , “ _No!_ ”

He nearly turns around on the spot to do _something_ , anything but next that he knows Téa and Véa are both next to him, holding him on track, not letting him turn back. 

“What the fuck are you two doing, let me go _back_ , don’t you care at all about him?!”

It’s Téa who speaks at that. “Do not presume to judge if we care or not, Villentretenmerth will take care of him.”

“Take care of him! After that he’s _dead_.” He spits out.

Véa shakes her head and is as calm as Téa when she says,”Do you really want to turn around for a man you do not know or will you take care of your daughter?”

Geralt visibly deflates at that, “ _Fuck_ .” He tightens his grip around Ciri who is still passed out and knows that they are _right_. 

He can’t get the picture of Hyacinth falling out his head, he looked so much like _his_ Jaskier, hair a little longer and eyes a little bluer but unmistakably _Jaskier_. And he had looked so heartbroken and sad when Geralt had called him that.

“I can see you thinking White Wolf,” Téa says, when he looks over at her he sees that her face has softened somewhat, “He will be fine, I swear it upon my honor.”

Geralt nods, the white knuckled grip on the reigns shows that he still doesn’t quite believe them. How can a man be fine after- after _that_.

None of them say anything anymore after that, galloping on in silence only stopping after having covered a lot of ground. Téa and Véa lead the group to a secluded cave, where they dismount and take care of the horses. Geralt does the same and carefully props Ciri up against the cave wall before taking care of Hyacinth’s horse.

She’s a beautiful pinto horse and obviously well cared for, he goes through his usual routine he uses on Roach as well and she even seems used to it. Téa apparently notices the appraising look Geralt gives the mare and remarks, “Her name is Thistle, Hyacinth trained her well.”

He nods but doesn’t say anything back, the mentions of Hyacinth making his throat close up. Geralt tries to shove the thoughts down but with everything that has happened it gets more and more difficult. 

He can only hope his Jaskier is alright, that he isn’t hurt or even-

Even dead.

Closing his eyes, he takes a deep breath. Jaskier is not dead, they will find him, he is convinced of that. He might be an idiot sometimes but he can be a crafty fucking bastard as well, Geralt hopes that that’s enough. It has to be.

Slowly he breathes in and just as slowly breathes out. 

When he calmed himself down he wanders over to Ciri who is slowly beginning to stir. She isn’t properly awake when she starts to frantically trash around. Geralt quickly passes the rest of the distance and tries to shake her awake and reassure her that she’s safe. It takes a few minutes and her nearly punching him in the face for her to groggily come to her senses. “Geralt?”

“Yeah. I’m here.” He carefully lets go of her wrists and she leans forward into him, Geralt doesn’t hesitate to wrap her into a hug. 

Her arms encircle him slowly, as if she thinks it isn’t real and he just hugs a bit tighter in response. 

After a while she lets go and leans back, her hands are still shaking and she softly rubs her hurting wrists. “What exactly happened? And where are we?” She looks around with a raised eyebrow that only climbs higher when she spots Téa and Véa.

Geralt fills Ciri in on what had happened after they got separated and how he met the two warriors, Ciri has never met them in their world but knows them from the stories Jaskier and Geralt told her about the mountain.

He also tells her about this world's Jaskier- Hyacinth and tells her the truth of what had happened after she asks. She is just as angry as Geralt was but quietens when he tells her what Téa swore. Geralt can see in her eyes that she has the same nagging feeling and suspicions like him, but they both know what a swear like this means for a warrior like Téa.

They all agree that they should wait to continue until Ciri feels better and not as groggy from whatever shit they gave her to make her unconscious. 

After a while Geralt hears the unmistakable sound of a horse in full gallop coming their way. Alarmed he stands up, hand on his sword hilt and looks to the two warriors. Téa is outside and looking into the direction of where the sound is coming from and Véa shakes her head. Both stay utterly calm which reassures Geralt somewhat that whoever it is, isn’t a threat. 

Téa approaches whoever is coming, he can hear how a person softly dismounts from the horse, they speak to each other but so low, even he can’t hear them.

The both come back to the entrance, walking with Téa is-

_Hyacinth_.

He tenses immediately and so does Ciri. “You’re dead. I saw you _fall_.”

Hyacinth’s clothing is bloody and torn, face dust streaked and flaked with dried blood, he looks at Geralt for a split second, eyes sad and resigned before flashing a sardonic grin. “I got better.”

Geralt thinks about putting his silver sword at him but only seconds after he got that thought, he gets sick to think of it. He couldn’t hold a sword to Jas- Hyacinth’s throat and they both looked nearly identical. Instead he just grits his teeth. “ _How_?”

Hyacinth shrugs and doesn’t look at him, “It’s just like this, I am afraid.” He shakes his head and tries to smile but it turns into more of a grimace. “We should go, Borch is surely waiting for us already.”

Téa and Véa nod and get ready to continue on, Geralt and Ciri look at each other and then back to the man. They are both incredibly suspicious, who wouldn’t be after seeing someone rise from the dead.

As if Hyacinth is reading their minds he turns to them or rather, turns to Ciri, and says, “Silver doesn’t work on me if you want to try it out.” With that he turns back and goes over to Thistle, greeting her and seeing after her wellbeing.

He pats her neck and then leads her to Geralt and Ciri, “You both better take her, she’s trained well and robust, my girl can easily carry you both a little longer.” 

Slowly Ciri walks forwards and takes the reins out of Hyacinth’s hands and nods at him. “Thank you.” He smiles at Ciri but it doesn’t reach his eyes.

After everyone is ready and on their horses they leave the case and presumably go to where Borch is currently residing.

  
  
  
  
  


They ride along the coast for a while until a modest but sizable house comes into view. 

From here Geralt can already see Borch standing outside the house, waiting for them. There is a little girl next to him, seemingly talking animatedly with him but over the distance he can’t make out what she says.

When they get closer, the girl whirls around and waves excitedly, at this Hyacinth spurs on the horse he’s on and rides over to her. He dismounts and crouches before her, telling her something and then gesturing to himself or to his clothing. Even from here, Geralt can see that the girl is pouting, Hyacinth ruffles her hair and then she runs inside the house.

The rest of the group catches up to him and they all dismount as well, Téa and Véa shake their heads when Geralt and Ciri want to help with the horses and point them towards Borch.

Hyacinth excuses himself to make himself presentable, while Borch invites Geralt and Ciri inside and leads them to a living room. He motions for them to sit down and they both do, grateful for that.

“You are both a long way off from your world as I have heard.” Borch says to them.

They both nod and Ciri explains their situation, “We’re searching for our Jaskier, something happened and we got separated from him and am now searching through different worlds for him.”

Borch nods, “I am guessing there is a catch?” 

“I can’t form portals this powerful for at least two days after having formed one.” 

“I can help you with that,” Borch says but frowns when he catches a look of Ciri’s wrists. “You should both rest a bit now though before you go on your way again.” 

He stands up and leaves the room, leaving them both alone. 

“I wonder about this version of Jaskier.” Ciri starts, getting a hum from Geralt in return. “He is surrounded by magic, the exact same magic that messed with the portal. It’s not coming _from_ him though.”

“Because it isn’t.” Borch says from the door, he holds medical supplies in his hands, he holds out a hand to Ciri’s wrist. “May I?”

She nods and he takes her hand gently, slathering the wrist in healing salve, repeating the process with her other wrist as well.

Borch sighs, “To pick up from before, you have to know what happened to Hyacinth, he was tricked and bound to a powerful creature. Nearly everyone forgot about him ever having existed.”

Ciri seems shocked and Geralt breathes out loudly through his nose, he looks down at his hands, “Is this why he couldn’t look at me? Did this world’s me just- _forget_ him?”

“He did.” Hyacinth answers, he comes into the room now with new clothes and having washed himself. “You’re searching for your me, right?”

They both nod at that and Hyacinth smiles sadly, he turns to Geralt. “If you find him please take your chance, you never know when it’s too late for it or how much time you will have left together. Be happy for as long as possible.”

Geralt looks a bit wide eyes at that but then nods and rasps out, “I will try.”

“Thank you.” With that Hyacinth leaves them again, Geralt can smell his tears in the air and his stomach constricts.

Borch watches them, something like knowing and sympathy in his eyes. “I can give a magic boost so you can create a portal now instead of having to wait.”

Ciri and Geralt look at each other, startle but then nod. 

“I don’t think we should stay here any longer, I don’t- I don’t want to hurt him further.” Geralt says quietly and Ciri bows her head in agreement.

Standing up, Borch motions for them both to do the same. He takes Ciri’s hands and closes his eyes, concentrating.

Ciri gasps when Borch’s magic reaches and replenishes her magic. His magic is _hot_ and so _much_. 

She nearly stumbles backwards when he lets her go, only being stopped by Geralt catching her. Borch smiles and says, “I leave you two to it, have a safe journey.” He inclines his head to them and leaves.

“You alright Ciri? Can we go?” Geralt asks worriedly.

Ciri nods and smiles, “His magic was just… a lot. We can leave.”

With that Ciri starts to concentrate, a portal slowly forming inside the living room. They take each other's hands and walk through it.


End file.
